Thorondor - Dreadnought Picture

The Thorondor class dreadnought is the largest and most powerful class of starship ever built by Eldaranië en Menel, the Galactic Elvish Imperium. At the time of its initial construction, the Eldar had no vessels analogous to dreadnoughts in other fleets and they referred to it as simply a heavy cruiser, a classification that is still sometimes used by older veterans of the Mehtari. First built over two hundred standard years ago, the Thorondor is a reclusive class of starship, seldom deployed outside the Eldamar Systems except during a state of war with an enemy civilization of similar military prowess. The Terran Union has never encountered the Thorondor class and all of the United Nations Defence Forces intelligence on it has been made available thanks to the Cornerian Federation, whose starfleet has had precisely one encounter with the class in the century since Corneria first discovered warp drive (an encounter that was now over sixty years ago). The class is named after a god from ancient Elven mythology in the shape of a giant eagle, described as the mightiest of all birds that have ever been; in Sindarin, one of the two most prominent Elven languages, the name Thorondor translates to King of Eagles. The Thorondor class was reportedly first developed to serve as a royal starship for the safe transport of the King of the Eldar; however, the prototype performed so well that a number of sister ships were commissioned for the Ohta Rimciryar, where they serve as the command ships of large fleet operations. It is unknown how many Thorondor class dreadnoughts exist, but the numbers are believed to be less than twenty.

The Thorondor class is a large dreadnought, measuring roughly 1,485 metres in length and 298 metres in width, which makes it smaller than the modern Cornerian Leviathan class, but much larger than the Terran Unions proposed Minotaur class and the Eldars own Aikanaro class heavy cruiser. The more well-known Turambar class light cruiser is easily dwarfed by the massive Thorondor class. Full details concerning the dreadnoughts means of propulsion are unknown, but it possesses six large ion engines that are at least as powerful as anything developed by the Cornerian starfleet (even to this day), giving it an estimated sub-light speed of about 7.1 percent light-speed. During the Cerinian Incident of 5875 (the year 2451 of the Fifth Age, on the Terran Calendar), when the young Cornerian Federation and the Galactic Elvish Imperium almost went to war with each other, the one Thorondor-class dreadnought to have been sighted by the Cornerian starfleet was observed making maneuvers without firing any thrusters, strongly suggesting the Thorondor class, like later Cornerian starships, uses mass effect fields to maneuver. Judging by the size of its warp engines and energy readings taken at the time, it is believed that the Thorondor can easily match the Turambars warp capability of approximately 12kc and more likely than not can travel fasterpotentially fifty percent faster.

As is typical of dreadnought type vessels, the Thorondor-class is very heavily armed. The one vessel that was encountered in 5875 carried 32 dual pulse guns, 18 null-ray cannons, and a single large fusion cannon. Unlike other particle accelerator weapons, a fusion cannon is powered by its own fusion reactor; the superheated particulate matter produced in the reaction is then channelled into the cannon, where it is accelerated to near the speed of light in a powerful energy beam, far more destructive in space than starship lasers or mass accelerator weapons. In addition to much more powerful kinetic barriers (or shields) than anything currently possessed by the Terran Union, it has been confirmed that the Thorondor class is equipped with the same type of armour plating as the Turambar class, giving it greater protection against laser fire, which kinetic barriers cannot defend against. Although modern Cornerian warships, such as the Nemesis and Leviathan classes could arguably be a match for it in single combat, the Terran Union is still years away from developing a ship capable of holding its own against this powerful dreadnought.

In addition to its immense firepower, Cornerian intelligence suggests that the Thorondor class dreadnought carries at least 118 Tinúviel-class fighters, as well as 20 Ohtaroch class gunships. It is unknown how many crew serve aboard the dreadnought, but it believed to be at least 9,000, and the Cornerian Department of Defence estimates that as many 15,000 may be carried aboard.

The Thorondor-class dreadnought was created by me for my comic, where it has yet to appear. This is the final version of the model I made last year, with the hangar completed and the edges smoothed. As with the Turambar-class, the name of the Thorondor-class is a reference to J.R.R. Tolkiens works; anyone whos read The Silmarillion may recall that Thorondor was the lord of the eagles in Middle-Earth during the First Age.